Red
by Bakura13
Summary: Ulquiorra’s hand in his chest brought darkness to his world except the inside; where the world drowned in red. Spoilers for Chapters 348 and onward. Warning of swearing.


**Red**

**Summary: Ulquiorra's hand in his chest brought darkness to his world except the inside; where the world drowned in red. Spoilers for Chapters 348 and onward.**

**Warnings: Spoilers for the current manga arc and swearing.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. **

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Darkness stole over the inner world, the windows of the buildings that used to glow faintly with memories shattered; glass spraying down towards the vacant streets below, contradicting the lopsided gravity. A thousand voices seem to speak at once, their past conversations meshing together in a mass of chaos that soon winked out as the light behind each curtained window flickered and died.

Above the tops of the large skyscrapers, a small red glow hovered, harmless and stationary in the swallowing darkness. Though small, it seemed to cast a vague crimson light over the shadows, stretching the gloom over the empty buildings.

"He lost." A distorted voice whispered disdainfully, followed by an annoyed click of the tongue. "The bastard lost to that goddamn Arrancar…"

Sitting beside one of the destroyed windows, clad in a stark contrast of his King's attire, sat the hollow; a knee bent up and an elbow resting on it as he ignored the glass that rained down in a tinkling shower. Half-lidded, dark and gold eyes watched the shadows of the skyscrapers slowly push downward, the light above becoming brighter and the small glow growing into a glossy circle.

"I offered him my help, y'know…" A scowl crossed his pasty features, his lip curling slightly to turn it into a snarl with gleaming canines. "Bastard thought he could kick ass on his own… Che… I told ya, Old Man, to make him strong. He's fuckin' pathetic… Even "borrowin' '' my goddamn powers didn't help him…"

Standing silent behind him, clothed in black, stood Zangetsu, torn jacket floating from an invisible wind and the lenses of his shades reflecting the crimson from above. A faint vibration passed through the world, the tall buildings shuddering but holding strong.

"Not much of a King if he needs to get his ass saved all the damned time… And he thought that defeatin' me would make him powerful…" The hollow sneered, baring his teeth slightly. "Ya failed big time, Old Man…"

"He's still alive." Zangetsu spoke in a low and even tone.

"Hah!" The snarl turned feral when crimson drops followed after the glass shower. "Ya call this livin'? The fucker's gone and got himself a hole in his goddamn chest! And lookit, even when he's dyin', it still fuckin' rains! Rainin' his goddamn blood…"

Holding out a hand, the hollow watched as the thick drops of blood fell onto his palm, some missing and slowly running down the length of his arm. A violent wobble of the skyscraper made the hollow hiss a curse and slam his hand back on the concrete, black nails failing to dig in as the lopsided gravity momentarily shifted before righting itself.

"Ya got any encouragin' words for our King, Old Man? It's pretty damned sad he believes all of that bullshit… Look where it got him…" Pushing himself up from his sitting position, the hollow's eyes fell upon what the dark-clad man was looking at in the distance.

Faint but shining against the overwhelming crimson, a broken window held white light that fought to stay on. It threatened to go out but stubbornly rebounded. Watching it for a few moments, his face showing a slightly perplexed look, the hollow suddenly smirked widely.

"Looks like ya were right, Old Man… Why don't ya kick back a while and enjoy the scenery…" With a snicker, the hollow ran across the rain slicked walls between two lines of windows, the smirk unchanged.

Approaching a large gap, he leapt up high, sailing over it with a crazed cackle, his eyes still on the stubborn window that refused to die. Sandals hit the wall, skidding forward slightly from the blood but the hollow dismissed it, proceeding recklessly forward. As he drew closer, he could hear the faint memory speaking through the curtains.

"_Don't die…_"

A brief pause.

"_Don't die, Kurosaki-kun…!_"

Slowing his reckless pace down to a walk and finally stopping, the hollow looked down upon the ruined window and the body that lay beside it.

Ichigo was sprawled on the wall, blood from the sky soaking into his back and a hand dangling over the window, fingertips barely touching the torn curtains. Brown eyes vacantly watched the light shift from inside of the window, not acknowledging the arrival of the hollow. His zanpakutou lay a few feet away, looking brittle and its surface littered with cracks and nicks.

"Whatcha watchin', King?" The hollow drawled, smirking down at the still form before shifting his gaze to the window.

Through the spaces of the torn fabric, he could see the broken scene of a memory.

A girl stood atop a pillar, her hands held around her mouth as if she was going to shout; fear crossing her features before she steeled up and cried out once again.

"_Don't die, Kurosaki-kun!_"

The smirk fell into a scowl, seeing the orange locks of his King's ample-breasted wench as the memory seemed to fade out before flickering to life again, her same fearful expression looking past him. His eyes narrowed as the memory played again, the bloody rain falling heavier. The hollow despised that girl with a passion and would have liked nothing more than to tear her head from her shoulders in spite of his King.

She made Ichigo weak.

She—along with the Shinigami wench, he silently sneered—made his King do stupid and reckless things.

And some of those heroic acts had forced the hollow to help out, only to get ripped back from the front and chucked back into the dull inner world.

"So this is what you're hangin' onto, huh, King?" The hollow asked, his eyes flickering back to the still body. "Yer fuckin' stupid… Tryin' to play hero all the time…"

Ichigo's blood-slicked hand twitched slightly as the hollow's grin returned.

"So the Old Man was right, eh? Yer one stubborn bastard, King… but ya really fucked up big time… Ya let that punkass Arrancar beat ya… But I'll do ya a favor since I like ya alive so much…" Dark eyes dropped back to the memory, watching it play for a moment before crouching down in front of it, watching his King again with a feral grin. "I'll kill that fuckin' weakling for ya… I won't exactly be savin' that whiny bitch… but if that Arrancar dies, everybody's happy, eh, King? Whaddya say…"

"_Don't die, Kurosaki-kun…!_"

"I…In…Inoue…" A vacant rasp cut through the hissing of the bloody rain that worsened as the hole above widened.

"Is that a 'yes', I hear, King?" The hollow gripped the edge of the window, ignoring the sting of the glass shards that remained and leaned closer. "I can't hear ya…"

"H…H…Have …to s-save…save… I… Ino…ue…" The empty whisper barely broke through the sound of the rain.

Smirking coolly, the hollow pushed back from the window, standing back up. "As ya wish, King… I'll save that bitch, all right… Ya just sit here and take a break… Keep yerself alive 'cause I ain't gonna let ya lay around forever…"

Leaving his King to soak in his own defeat, the hollow felt the beginning of the collapse of the inner world; buildings shuddering and cracks appearing on the surface. Cackling, the hollow ran across the trembling surface, heading towards the crimson hole that was swallowing the sky.

Eyes gleaming hungrily, he planted a foot on a window sill and pushed off, reaching the world's limit.

"That Arrancar was bitchin' about despair and darkness … but he's gonna be rainin' blood and the last thing that bastard's gonna see is red!"


End file.
